


Never Enough Time

by Cumbermarvel (UglyJackal)



Series: IronStrange Week May 14 - May 20 [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, I've seen like four marvel films????, M/M, Major Spoilers, My First Work in This Fandom, Spoilers, fuck you too, ironstrange prompt week, so please excuse any out of character-ness because I don't know them that well, wow I have a lot of feelings after this film, wtf marvel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-07 01:36:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14660628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UglyJackal/pseuds/Cumbermarvel
Summary: IronStrange Week Prompt One: Last Touch





	Never Enough Time

**Author's Note:**

> Um so hello. I have never written anything for the Marvel fandom before but IronStrange was the thing that dragged me in here and won't let me go. So with that in mind, please excuse any OOC characters, because I don't know them all that well (Doctor Strange is gonna be difficult to write, but I'm determined to do it right).
> 
> So with IronStrange Week, I might not be able to do all of the prompts (because I'm lazy and I have college work to do as well, so I might upload the prompts late or not at all, who knows).
> 
> Anyway, feel free to leave constructive criticism or any other sort of comment that you want to leave. Chuck some kudoses in there too, if you want.

He knew. He knew. He knew.

He knew how it would end. How he would end. How his body would crumble, all of his nerves and arteries collapsing into dust that went against everything he knew as a doctor. How his body would crumble akin to the way that he felt when just one nerve was moved out of place, and the entire surgery was a failure. How he was a failure. How he couldn't save half of the population.

He knew that he was meant to die. He knew that Tony was meant to live. He knew that Tony would suffer. And who could blame him? Having just watched the kid die, who meant more to him than life itself, it didn't take a genius to know that Tony would hurt. He would hurt more than when Thanos was stabbing him, puncturing his lungs, spitting out blood. He would hurt more than any of his fights. Because physical pain could go away. But psychological pain sometimes didn't.

He knew that better than anyone. The pain in his hands was still there, sometimes, but not all the time. But he could never get back into a car. Not after his stupidity had cost him everything. He couldn't trust himself with anything he was liable to drop - a glass, a plate, a priceless relic. The anxiety that he would drop it and that it would explode into a thousand pieces and hurt someone made his hands tremble like trees in a storm.

And now the entire population was going to split in half because he had willingly dropped the Time Stone into Thanos' gauntlet.

He knew that they would blame him when they found out. When they found out, probably from Tony, that he had made it easy for Thanos. If he had resisted, maybe he could have lived in a future where he and Tony could have survived, maybe even learned to like one another, maybe even more than that. But not now.

He knew that once Tony had figured it out, how to get everyone back, he knew that Tony wouldn't want anything to do with him. That he would look upon the Sorcerer with disdain and distrust.

And Stephen couldn't blame him.

'Why did you do that?' Tony's voice came to him now, as he was sat there waiting.

Stephen looked up, guilt gripping at his heart. 'We're in the endgame now.'

The other man frowned and crawled closer to him. Stephen flinched away, expecting a blow. But instead, he got a hand around his shoulders and a stubbled chin scratching at his neck. 'What did you see in those fourteen million futures?' Tony muttered to him.

The Sorcerer didn't tell him. Couldn't even if he had wanted to. Because there were so many, with so many different components. And he just didn't want Tony to think about it.

So he just reached up with his ugly, shaking hands and put them on Tony's chest. And pushed him away.

* * *

It was happening.

The end was coming and he wasn't ready. He needed more time, he had to tell Tony what he had seen. Had to tell the Spider Kid that he would be okay, that he would come back. Had to tell Star Lord that he was meant to punch Thanos, meant to lose his cool, meant to "ruin" everything.

But there was no time.

Because one by one, everyone that he wanted to say something to was dust.

And he was the last.

He had to say something. Now. Before it was too late.

'Tony,' he rasped. His throat already felt like it was ash.

He looked around, in answer to his name.

'There was no other way,' he paused, 'I'm sorry.'

Tony came towards him again, just like hours before, and knelt down in front of the Sorcerer and took his scarred, trembling hands in his own. 'Am I going too?' he asked.

Stephen shook his head, his voice only a gust of wind, as his hands crumbled and his legs broke. Soon it rolled up his arms and torso like a tsunami, strangling him until there was nothing left. He looked fiercely into Tony's eyes, wanting the man he cared about the most to be his lasting memory.

'No... please... I need to know what to do!' Tony cried.

Stephen didn't have enough time to respond. His vision crumbled into soot and ash before he could open his mouth to tell Tony that he didn't need to know, he would be okay.

But there was never enough time.


End file.
